The first delivery of 1.75 million doses should be available from February 21, said German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) on Friday, referring to company information in Berlin. It was initially unclear when the vaccine would arrive in Austria.
On Thursday, the domestic Ministry of Health announced that the vaccine would come in the first quarter of 2022, but no exact date was given. Austria has ordered 750,000 doses of Novavax for the first quarter of 2022. This is intended to address in particular those people who have previously refused a vaccination.
Protein vaccine could be of interest to skeptics
Lauterbach emphasized on Friday that the preparation, which was “virtually a dead vaccine”, should be particularly available to those who prefer this type of vaccination. He himself could not assess the value of the Omicron variant well. But he assumes that the vaccine should work well. Vaccinations with it would be recommended.
The Novavax agent was recently approved as the fifth corona vaccine in the EU. Two doses are injected about three weeks apart. It is a protein vaccine – so it is based on a different technology than the previously available corona preparations. The effectiveness for protection against symptomatic infections was given by the EU medicines authority EMA at around 90 percent. Experts pointed out that not as much is known about the new vaccine as about the other preparations that have been in widespread use for some time.
Source: Nachrichten
